Improvement in oil-stills



c. A. HARDY.

Ol Still.'

No. 40.168. 'Patented Oct. 6, 1863.

N. wenn; Phmmmmvmr. wnmngwn. n.c.

" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES A. HARDY, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

lMPROVEMENT IN OIL-STILLIS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,168, dated October 6, 1863; antedated a September 25, 1863.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. HARDY, of the city of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have i11- vented a new and useful Improvement in Stills for Distilling and Refining Petroleum and other Hydrocarbon Oils; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective representation of a still. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of three separate stills constructed with my improvement.

ln each of the figures like letters of ence denote similar parts.

My improvement in stills for distilling hydrocarbon oils is designed to be used with superheated steam or highly-heated air as the heating medium, and by means thereof I am enabled to dispense entirely with the use of furnaces underneath my stills, thereby saving a great deal of trouble and expense and removing a fruitful source of accident in the distillation of petroleum.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use my improvement, I will proceed to describe it more fully.

In the drawings, a represents a still, made of wrought or cast iron or other suitable material. It is cylindrical, and set on suitable masonry or supports, with its axis in a horizontal position, as shown in Fig. l. Inside of the still, and extending from one end to the other, parallel to its axis, is a falsebottom, b,- whichmay be made of the same material as the still. This false bottom b may be curved referin the shape of an arc of a circle of somewhat greater radius than that 0f the still, so that when the false bottom is in place it forms a crescent-shaped chamber, c, under the main cavity of the still, as seen in Fig. 2. By making the false bottom or partition b curved the cavity extends up either side of the still as far as the horizontal plane of its axis. If preferred, however, the partition forming the false bottom may be flat and extend across the still as a sector of the circle, or of any other shape, so as to make the chamber inside the still such shape or depth as may be desired. A series of stills thus constructed may be arranged side by side, as shown in Fig. 2, and the pipe d from the superheater, where the steam is superheated, passes horizontally. in front of the stills, from which conmeeting-pipes e e enter the cavity or chamber in each still formed by the crescent-shaped bottom, and admit the superheated steam or heated air Linder the false bottom or partition b. At the other extremity of the still is a pipe, f, through which the steam or other heating medium is allowed to escape. The induction and eduction pipes e and f are supplied with cocks for admitting or shutting ott the superheated steam or regulating its supply.

Having thus described my improvement in stills, I do not claim the use of a steam-jacket surrounding the bottom and sides of the still 5 nor do I claim theuse of a steam-jacket partially surroundingthe still when the still is placed over a tire; but

What I do claim as my invention is- The use of a cylindrical still, (for distilling coaloil without the direct application of' a furnace,) such still having an inner or false bottom, forming a hot-air or steam space on the under side of the still, substantially as described. l

In testimony whereof the said CHARLES A. HARDY has hereunto set his hand.

CHARLES A. HARDY.

Witnesses:

A. S. NIcHoLsoN, W. BAKEWELL. 

